You don't have to be in a bad mood. At least, that's what many advisors on the subject of emotions and feelings want to make us aware of. Whether that is true remains to be seen because of a bad mood, and with it, her big brother's anger, aggression, and anger can also have positive sides. That, in turn, is the opinion of the other camp of psychologists who deal with emotions. It is not easy to decide who is right now. A relatively easy finding, however, is that colleagues' bad moods can be pretty annoying. Fortunately, there is something you can do about it.
A bad mood isn't all negative.
Nobody has to be in a bad mood in their professional or private life these days - you could come to this conclusion if you look at the shelves of advice and happiness literature in bookshops (alternatively: look at the hit list on google).
Anyone who is in a bad mood today is their fault and shouldn't be surprised. Happy and satisfied people are not only in a better mood; they have more fulfilling relationships, have better jobs, and make more money on top of that. At least, that's what the happiness researchers claim.
Other research suggests that a bad mood does not have to be wrong from the outset, in the sense of being unlucky.
Happy people seem to be more easily blinded. They are more amenable to prejudice and often lose out in discussions, as they usually have worse arguments at their disposal than their bad-tempered (or critical) contemporaries.
The conclusion: We can also use negative emotions such as fear, aggression, and anger to our advantage. These feelings not only slow us down. On the contrary, they can even drive us. That, in turn, is the opinion of researchers on the other side. They prove this, among other things, that significant social changes such as revolutions and citizens' movements were not instigated by cheerful, lively citizens but by a mass of disappointed, oppressed, and angry individuals.
The separate bad mood from anger and anger
However, one thing should not be forgotten: the examples and studies cited are not just about bad moods but also about negative feelings such as aggression and anger. Of course, these can occur in a trio. However, a bad-tempered employee is not always an angry employee.
This means that anger can show positive results - in a salary negotiation, angry and slightly aggressive employees get more out of it - but it does not mean that a bad mood in itself has to be something positive for the person affected.
A bad mood is contagious.
A bad mood in the workplace is a problem for employees who got up on the wrong leg in the morning and for their colleagues. Several studies suggest that bad attitudes can spread to the entire workforce.
This also means that a nagging employee in a smaller company can be solely responsible for the bad mood of the entire team. Because, as a study also shows, a bad mood affects us much more than a good one. In other words, we are more likely to be influenced by complaining colleagues than by friendly smiling colleagues.
And the feeling can even linger—a study with 90 doctoral students examined how they react when negotiating with a rude conversation partner. The result to be expected: If you had to deal with a wild counterpart, you too appeared impolite in the next negotiation. But not only that: A week later, the effects that the bad-tempered companion had on the study participants could still be felt. Colleagues' bad moods, therefore, not only have a short-term impact but can also affect us in the long term.